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Saturday, 17 September 2016

For RAAM 2016 arrived in USA on 29 May 2016 with two crew members stayed at friend’s house (kishore) in Mountain View till 07 Jun2106 then moved to Anaheim, stayed at Air bnb for 24 hours and then to Temecula and the entire team reached Temecula stayed at Air bnb house till the start of the race.

12 Jun 16: Attended pre-race inspections and crew chief meeting. There are 52 time stations in the race route. Each time station needs to be reported when a rider crosses time station. There is a GPS tracker with each rider and that tracks the rider all throughout. We rented two support vehicles for the race.

14 Jun: 1310 h I was flagged off, the unsupported race route was easy to navigate no issue then till 23 miles later could get in touch with support crew. From there onwards I see so many solo riders blazing past me till Lake Henshaw, was feeling that I am slower than them, did not push because I felt I need to conserve it for the later days to come. Reached the summit of the glass elevator and started to descent, I was very careful about the descent and was under control but the cross winds was making life really diffiuclt, would come down to a standstill at some places on the descent, found Ricardo Arap and by passed him there. At Christmas circle met the other crew members and was moving on, did not stop at that stage. Reached Brawley at 2300 h local time, kept cycling

15 Jun: Reached Blythe early morning 0600h local time, Blythe to Parker in 06 hours, don’t remember what else happened, Parker to Salome was a tough ask, the heat was catching up and was getting weaker on the bike reached congress in the night

16 Jun: Reached Prescott in the morning and from there onwards reaching camp verde was a challenge, reached in the afternoon and from there that long stretch took a very long time, was feeling very sleepy in the night

17 Jun: Dragged myself after fighting for sleep to Flagstaff, by then I was done I was a broke, I said to myself that I have not trained well for RAAM and succumbed to the mental calculations in my mind which was telling me you can’t make it to Durango by 81 hours, I told my crew about it, they put me to sleep for 1 ½ hour and when I woke up I had given up. Prafulla and Kishore told me to get on the bike and ride to the next time station that is Tuba city. I was riding very weakly to Tuba city. At Tuba city my whole crew was kind of given up on me except Prafulla and Venky. We went to Mc Donalds and lazed out there and at around 1530 local time decided let’s go to next time station but after a lot of hesitation. At this stage I gave up on RAAM dream. Lost focus completely on the race. Now I feel the crew had totally given up on the race. But Venky pushed me to reach kayenta by 1010 local time, so I literally was riding strong with unnecessary stops uncalled for, till this stage no one knew that Durango is a Soft Cut off. All were riding only to make it to Kayenta. I reached Kayenta and was feeling so strong that I told my crew, ask for permission to ride further. At this point the team realized that it is a soft cut off and we were all happy to know that we are still alive in the race. With a Shower break, left Kayenta with lot of energy

18 Jun: Mexican hat and Montezumma creek was good but from there the motivation was succumbing to sleep deprivation and exhaustion, the ride to cortez was one hell of a ride as I started feeling breathless and was struggling to breath, that was a shocker to me, I felt that there is an hypersensitive reaction in my airways to the pollens around, did not tell my crew but as I was nearing cortez I started to wheeze and then my whole respiratory tract was choked, I manually tried to cough heavily and bring out the massive mucus plugs, it was yellow green and stained with blood, I was bringing out lot of sputum from then onwards. I happened to meet Alberto there at Cortez and was amazed at the concern he had for me. At cortez, stopped for a loo break and was ready for Durango. After 5 miles I told my crew that I want to relax for some time along the road, at that moment I could not sleep but did get massage from my crew. I started antibiotic in that stretch and was back on the bike. It was very hard to be on the bike reached Durango in the evening. Stopped at Durango for one hour. Ricardo Arap overtook me there and I was trying to keep him in sight

19 Jun: Reached Pagosa Springs and then was all charged up for Wolf creek pass, my chain broke at this juncture, had to change my bike to one I have never ever used but I was fortunate to scale wolf creek with decent timing, the descent from there onwards was a struggle. Don’t know why I was so slower and reached south fork in the morning, took a hour break there and was given deadline to ride faster. After which I was speeding like hell to Alamosa and then to La veta and finally to Trinidad

20 Jun: Reached Trinidad, slept for an hour here, was riding ok till walsh, walsh to Ulysses was a challenge with cross winds, life was tough for me,

From here I will put whatever I remember because I am not able to recall events , did an awesome el dorado, took a shower and after yates and ft scott, suffered hallucinations to the highest level for 6 hours and then slept after reaching ft scott. I was hit with the strong roller coasters to weaubleau really rode very strong here, at this stage we were out of the time that we were given for Mississippi and did ask for another soft cut off here and we were granted then. Again excited to be back on the bike made it to Jefferson city, slept for a while there and then to Washington and then was fighting my way out to Mississippi, really boring landscapes which remain monotonous

25 Jun: At Mississippi I felt like a hero, rested for one hour again, and back on bike, reached Bloomington took a shower and started calculating the remaining distances, and I started to lose hope and I felt that I am fighting a lost battle. Dragged to Greensburg, where Kishore quit the ride and I dragged myself to Ohio. At Oxford Ohio, my desire to race was subdued and had no hope left and gave up there. I cycled 2460 miles in 11 days.

Kishore Gopalakrishna: My school friend, very meticulate in planning and strategy, he was full of commitment, managed to crew even after a busy schedule. He was a major platform for the team logistics. He was mentally very agile. He performed the role of a driver, caretaker, race strategist and so on...., he was all crew members put in ONE, AN ALL ROUNDER. https://www.facebook.com/kishoreg?fref=ts

Prafulla Srinivas: WOW!, was surprised when she voulnteered to crew. She did a major sacrifice of letting our toddler son back in India. She did surprise me the way she handled the crew fatigue and kept the riders morale very high. She was the cook and the medic. https://www.facebook.com/prafulla.srinivas.7?fref=ts

What next? That is what I was thinking after a national record for cycling Leh to kanyakumari in Sep 2014 in 15 days. It all started in Oct 2014, when I was in Pune doing my MOJCC 179 and I had decided to participate in “The Deccan Cliffhanger” 2nd edition, one of the qualification race for Race Across America. I finished third and qualified for Race across America and this qualification is valid for 2015 and 2016. I went back to my unit in valley and did share my dream to participate in RAAM. I was sent to the Directorates Office in the early Feb 2015, he was happy to know about the achievements and was eager to help me in my RAAM dream. As always said “Circumstances are stronger than men”, I was moved out from valley in July 2015 and reported to the busiest place, the Arty centre, Nasik. I managed to utilize my time right from day one at the centre with one intention to be the first Indian to finish RAAM successfully.

It was very demanding to manage many commitments at the centre but my focus on my objective was very clear. I was almost riding 300 km a week in Dec and then 500 km a week till March and then around 600 km a week in April and taper in May

I trained almost 10,000 km for the race and was mentally preparing to meet the race challenges.

The race needs a dedicated support crew and the crew needs to be equally motivated and experienced. The crew composed of my wife Prafulla and four cyclist friends from India and an ambulance assistant Sep Dhanasekaran who was the physiotherapist on board. Getting them all together was a tough task in its own.

Financial ordeal: The race is very expensive, and it is way too expensive for a foreigner like me. Luckily my crew members, my savings, my friends and a bit of crowd funding helped me sail through the storm. But it is not as easy as said than done. The major expenditures are registration for the race, hotels, support vehicles and Air tickets.

The challenges till the time race started were many and belief in oneself was the biggest strength

1. Srinivas G is
an endurance cyclist since 2009 and has participated in numerous cycling
events. He has participated in Race Across America 2016 and has cycled 2450
miles in 11 days. He is currently a record holder for cycling 4000 km (Leh to
Kanyakumari) in 15 days and 22 hrs in ‘LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS’. This was an
improvement of nearly 2 days and 05 hours from the last known attempt. He has
undertaken several cycling expeditions in the recent past. He has qualified
twice in RAAM qualification races in India. He finished third in the Deccan
cliffhanger cycling event which was held in Pune on 29 Nov 2014 and has
qualified for Race Across America (RAAM), which is the largest ultra-cycling
event covering a distance of 5000 KM from west to east coast of America.

ABOUT
THE RACE ACROSS AMERICA (RAAM)

The
Race Across America, known as the “world’s toughest bicycle race”, will set
over 250 competitors on a 3,000-mile route stretching from Oceanside,
California to Annapolis, Maryland. Solo
racers need to finish in 12 days or 288 hours for official completion of the
race. Athletes race continuously day and night, on their own power and a crew
of 8 -15 people following in support vehicles with food and supplies for the
race. These courageous adventurers brave
heat, wind, thunderstorms, altitude, the dark of night, fatigue and sleep
deprivation, cross several major mountain ranges and raise hundreds of
thousands of dollars for charity.

The
toughest endurance event in the world, RAAM offers long-distance cyclists the
opportunity to challenge themselves to the height of their abilities. Just over 300 solo cyclists have completed
RAAM since its first edition in 1982.
Solo winners complete the course in approximately 12 days and winning
teams complete the journey in 9 days. These modern day heroes brave the desert,
plains and mountain weather, lead a crew in a mini-organization of support, and
raise thousands of dollars for charities around the world.

“RAAM
unites people of all backgrounds, nationalities and cycling histories in an
adventure that challenges them to the core of everything they are,” says Fred
Boethling, Race Director, the oldest man to successfully race RAAM Solo across
the country. “It’s man against the
elements, the road, and ultimately, him or herself.” For more information and
race updates, see http://www.raceacrossamerica.org

PRE-RACE PREPARATION

What
next? That is what I was thinking after a national record for cycling Leh to kanyakumari in Sep 2014 in 15 days. It all
started in Oct 2014, when I was in Pune doing my MOJCC 179 and I had decided to
participate in “The Deccan Cliffhanger” 2nd edition, one of the qualification
race for Race Across America. I finished third and qualified for Race across
America and this qualification is valid for 2015 and 2016. I went back to my
unit in valley and did share my dream to participate in RAAM. I was sent to the
Directorates Office in the early Feb 2015, he was happy to know about the
achievements and was eager to help me in my RAAM dream. As always said
“Circumstances are stronger than men”, I was moved out from valley in July 2015
and reported to the busiest place, the Arty centre, Nasik. I managed to utilize
my time right from day one at the centre with one intention to be the first
Indian to finish RAAM successfully.

It
was very demanding to manage many commitments at the centre but my focus on my
objective was very clear. I was almost
riding 300 km a week in Dec and then 500 km a week till March and then around
600 km a week in April and taper in May

I
trained almost 10,000 km for the race and was mentally preparing to meet the
race challenges.

The
race needs a dedicated support crew and the crew needs to be equally motivated
and experienced. The crew composed of my wife Prafulla and four cyclist friends
from India and an ambulance assistant Sep Dhanasekaran who was the physiotherapist
on board. Getting them all together was a tough task in its own.

Financial
ordeal: The race is very expensive, and it is way too expensive for a foreigner
like me. Luckily my crew members, my savings, my friends and a bit of crowd
funding helped me sail through the storm. But it is not as easy as said than
done. The major expenditures are registration for the race, hotels, support
vehicles and Air tickets.

The
challenges till the time race started were many and belief in oneself was the
biggest strength

RAAM 2016 (ACTION PACK) 14 July 2016 to 25
July 2016

For RAAM 2016 arrived
in USA on 29 May 2016 with two crew members stayed at friend’s house (kishore) in
Mountain View till 07 Jun2106 then moved to Anaheim, stayed at Air bnb for 24
hours and then to Temecula and the entire team reached Temecula stayed at Air
bnb house till the start of the race.

12 Jun 16: Attended
pre-race inspections and crew chief meeting. There are 52 time stations in the
race route. Each time station needs to be reported when a rider crosses time
station. There is a GPS tracker with each rider and that tracks the rider all
throughout. We rented two support vehicles for the race.

14 Jun: 1310 h I was
flagged off, the unsupported race route was easy to navigate no issue then till
23 miles later could get in touch with support crew. From there onwards I see
so many solo riders blazing past me till Lake Henshaw, was feeling that I am
slower than them, did not push because I felt I need to conserve it for the
later days to come. Reached the summit of the glass elevator and started to
descent, I was very careful about the descent and was under control but the
cross winds was making life really diffiuclt, would come down to a standstill
at some places on the descent, found Ricardo Arap and by passed him there. At
Christmas circle met the other crew members and was moving on, did not stop at
that stage. Reached Brawley at 2300 h local time, kept cycling

15 Jun: Reached Blythe
early morning 0600h local time, Blythe to Parker in 06 hours, don’t remember
what else happened, Parker to Salome was a tough ask, the heat was catching up
and was getting weaker on the bike reached congress in the night

16 Jun: Reached
Prescott in the morning and from there onwards reaching camp verde was a
challenge, reached in the afternoon and from there that long stretch took a
very long time, was feeling very sleepy in the night

17 Jun: Dragged myself
after fighting for sleep to Flagstaff, by then I was done I was a broke, I said
to myself that I have not trained well for RAAM and succumbed to the mental
calculations in my mind which was telling me you can’t make it to Durango by 81
hours, I told my crew about it, they put me to sleep for 1 ½ hour and when I
woke up I had given up. Prafulla and Kishore told me to get on the bike and
ride to the next time station that is Tuba city. I was riding very weakly to
Tuba city. At Tuba city my whole crew was kind of given up on me except
Prafulla and Venky. We went to Mc Donalds and lazed out there and at around
1530 local time decided let’s go to next time station but after a lot of hesitation.
At this stage I gave up on RAAM dream. Lost focus completely on the race. Now I
feel the crew had totally given up on the race. But Venky pushed me to reach
kayenta by 1010 local time, so I literally was riding strong with unnecessary
stops uncalled for, till this stage no one knew that Durango is a Soft Cut off.
All were riding only to make it to Kayenta. I
reached Kayenta and was feeling so strong that I told my crew, ask for
permission to ride further. At this point the team realized that it is a soft
cut off and we were all happy to know that we are still alive in the race. With
a Shower break, left Kayenta with lot of energy

18 Jun: Mexican hat
and Montezumma creek was good but from there the motivation was succumbing to
sleep deprivation and exhaustion, the ride to cortez was one hell of a ride as
I started feeling breathless and was struggling to breath, that was a shocker
to me, I felt that there is an hypersensitive reaction in my airways to the
pollens around, did not tell my crew but as I was nearing cortez I started to
wheeze and then my whole respiratory tract was choked, I manually tried to
cough heavily and bring out the massive mucus plugs, it was yellow green and
stained with blood, I was bringing out lot of sputum from then onwards. I
happened to meet Alberto there at Cortez and was amazed at the concern he had
for me. At cortez, stopped for a loo break and was ready for Durango. After 5
miles I told my crew that I want to relax for some time along the road, at that
moment I could not sleep but did get massage from my crew. I started antibiotic
in that stretch and was back on the bike. It was very hard to be on the bike
reached Durango in the evening. Stopped at Durango for one hour. Ricardo Arap
overtook me there and I was trying to keep him in sight

19 Jun: Reached Pagosa
Springs and then was all charged up for Wolf creek pass, my chain broke at this
juncture, had to change my bike to one I have never ever used but I was
fortunate to scale wolf creek with decent timing, the descent from there
onwards was a struggle. Don’t know why I was so slower and reached south fork
in the morning, took a hour break there and was given deadline to ride faster.
After which I was speeding like hell to Alamosa and then to La veta and finally
to Trinidad

20 Jun: Reached
Trinidad, slept for an hour here, was riding ok till walsh, walsh to Ulysses
was a challenge with cross winds, life was tough for me,

From here I will put
whatever I remember because I am not able to recall events , did an awesome el
dorado, took a shower and after yates and ft scott, suffered hallucinations to
the highest level for 6 hours and then slept after reaching ft scott. I was hit with the strong roller coasters to weaubleau really rode very strong here, at
this stage we were out of the time that we were given for Mississippi and did
ask for another soft cut off here and we were granted then. Again excited to be
back on the bike made it to Jefferson city, slept for a while there and then to
Washington and then was fighting my way out to Mississippi, really boring
landscapes which remain monotonous

25 Jun: At Mississippi
I felt like a hero, rested for one hour again, and back on bike, reached
Bloomington took a shower and started calculating the remaining distances, and
I started to lose hope and I felt that I am fighting a lost battle. Dragged to
Greensburg, where Kishore quit the ride and I dragged myself to Ohio. At Oxford
Ohio, my desire to race was subdued and had no hope left and gave up there. I
cycled 2460 miles in 11 days.

ABOUT MY CREWNiranjan upasani: Knew him since Oct 2015, awesome driver and navigator, managed the auxillary vehicle very well. He was the crew chief too. https://www.facebook.com/niranjan.upasaniKishore Gopalakrishna: My school friend, very meticulate in planning and strategy, he was full of commitment, managed to crew even after a busy schedule. He was a major platform for the team logistics. He was mentally very agile. He performed the role of a driver, caretaker, race strategist and so on...., he was all crew members put in ONE, AN ALL ROUNDER. https://www.facebook.com/kishoreg?fref=ts